Job Description. Parent Support Adviser (PSA)

Transcription

1 Norfolk Children s Services Job Description Parent Support Adviser (PSA) Location: CNS Cluster of Schools Salary Scale: Scale E point 21 Reporting to: Headteacher of Avenue Junior School Role summary: Parental influences have a powerful effect upon children s attitudes, achievements and life outcomes. The role of the PSA is to assist in tackling underachievement by working in partnership with families, parents, carers and pupils in a school context to enable pupils, particularly the most disadvantaged, to have full access to educational opportunities and overcome barriers to learning and participation. The PSA will work directly with parents in a non-judgemental way empowering them and their families to get the most out of the educational opportunities available. PSAs will focus their work on preventative and early intervention activities. They will work in a schools cluster context where presenting needs are below the thresholds that trigger the involvement of specialist services and other agencies. * Throughout this document parents includes carers. Core duties and responsibilities: Parenting Support and Information Understand the primary rights and responsibilities of parents to raise their children, and support parents by helping them to improve their parenting skills for example by facilitating basic parenting classes and providing appropriate information or referrals. o Promote high quality at home parenting such as promoting conversations between parents and their children, and encouraging authoritative rather than authoritarian discipline.

2 o Support parents of children with early signs of social, emotional, health or behavioural issues, and work with them, school staff and other support agencies to prevent problems worsening and interfering with the child s ability to engage with school and learning. o To provide impartial information or referrals to parents about the school and relevant local services available to parents, children and families including those provided by education, social care, youth justice, childcare providers, the voluntary sector and others. o At the request of parents and the school to talk to children experiencing difficulties and convey the voice of the child to parents and school staff. o Identify in partnership with parents their needs for parenting support groups or parenting classes for those wishing to enhance their relationship with their children and deal positively with discipline, conflict and other issues. Parental engagement with their child s learning To work with parents in a school cluster context, supporting them and building their engagement with their child s learning o Support parents and their children through transitions to ensure continual engagement with school and learning. o Ensure opportunities for all parents to develop their understanding and knowledge of children s learning and development. o Encourage good relations and effective dialogue between parents and teachers about children s progress. o Enable increased opportunities for parental involvement in school life. o Ensure parents feel confident to engage with their child s learning by facilitating and arranging family learning opportunities at the school such as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) computer literacy classes, PSHE curriculum and the extended school agenda. School attendance and exclusions To identify with parents reasons for their children s non-attendance, and to work with parents and others to achieve regular attendance and reduce exclusion

3 o Give close attention to early identification and prevention of absence and behavioural habits. o Work with parents to identify why their children are not achieving full attendance. Ascertain the probable causes of the absences and suggest and assist in the implementation of plans/action to resolve the situation, working closely with school staff, the child and the child's family. o Ascertain the probable causes of behaviour that could lead to exclusion and assist in solution focussed activities to resolve this. o Work closely with AIOs, school attendance officers and outreach teams. o Carry out home visits where appropriate to support parents in encouraging their children to maintain full and regular attendance. o Help to identify and support access to alternative learning opportunities where appropriate. o Focus on offering parenting support courses/classes. o Build positive relations with schools in the cluster and promote their work to ensure sufficient school and self-referrals. o Where appropriate liaise with other PSAs in the authority. o To provide transition supports where a cluster includes secondary school and feeder primaries. o Working with schools in the cluster to build programmes that increase levels of support for children s learning and parent engagement. o Support pupils who have been or are likely to be excluded. o Work with parents and pupils to avert potential exclusion. o Following exclusion help parents ensure that their child is properly supervised during exclusion, continuing with school work, and that there is a proper strategy for tackling the issue that led to the exclusion and for reintegrating the pupil into school on return. o Support schools in developing effective practice for working in partnership with parents. Reporting: o Keep records and all documentation pertaining to meetings/contact with children and young people and their families. o Conduct reviews and assessment of the effectiveness of the work being carried out including evaluation of parenting courses by the delegates. o Keep informed records of all action taken to improve the attendance of pupils. Liaison with other agencies

4 o Participate in internal and cross-organization working groups as appropriate for exchange of information and 'best practice'. o Attend such meetings as may be required to further improve attendance, help to inform other services, or further develop the Parent Support Adviser role. o Keep up to date on the range of agencies working locally in order to maintain knowledge of services that parents might be sign-posted to. Training and supervision o Attend training. o Attend supervision. o Other standard clauses o Any other duties and responsibilities within the range of the salary grade. o All duties and responsibilities must be carried out with due regard to the Norfolk County Council's existing policies such as Child Protection, Health and Safety, Equal Opportunities and Data Protection etc.

5 Parent Support Adviser Person Specification Knowledge o Knowledge of the social and emotional factors that affect a child s capacity to learn. o Knowledge of available support services and referral routes. o Awareness of the legislation affecting school attendance requirements. Personal attributes/qualities o Empathy o Resilience o Persistence Able to: o Relate to young people and adults in an empathetic manner o Develop a rapport with pupils and their families o Deal with difficult situations and/or individuals in a calm, fair but effective manner o Deal with sensitive issues in a confidential manner o Influence others, managing discussions effectively to ensure desired actions are achieved. o Support learning by giving constructive feedback and coaching o Communicate effectively - face to face or by telephone, with children/parents/head teachers/social workers etc. o Write reports and letters relevant to issues for school attendance. o Prioritise workloads and work to deadlines o Work as part of a team and use own initiative when required. o Work flexibly and manage own time to best effect o Report and account to line manager as appropriate o Demonstrate awareness/commitment to upholding equal opportunity policies. o Maintain an effective record keeping system o Demonstrate computer literacy utilising Microsoft Office applications o Undertake relevant training o Be able to travel between schools within the designated school cluster. Experience: o Experience and understanding of children within their family context. o Demonstrable experience of delivering individual or group based support o Experience within the field of education, social services/welfare or the voluntary sector.

6 Education: o Educational achievement sufficient to support clear reporting and presentation skills Special requirements: o Unequivocal references will be required. o The responsibilities of the post require the post-holder to have significant unsupervised contact with pupils and their families and enhanced Criminal Records Bureau disclosure will be required prior to appointment. This post is exempt from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.